Information on the urban flora and vegetation in the industrial new cities in Egypt are insufficient and far from complete. For this reason, this study was undertaken as the first attempt to fill this gap of knowledge. For two successive years (2004 and 2005), a reconnaissance survey was conducted in four new industrial cities: 6th October, El-Sadat, Burg El-Arab and 10th Ramadan; aiming at: (1) recognizing the floristic composition and vegetation structure of each of the studied cities; (2) identifying the main urban habitats dominating the studied cities; (3) comparing the vegetation of the urban habitats at the boundaries of each city, where desert soil merges gradually with the agricultural land, with that at its centre (purely agricultural land); and (4) analyzing, quantitatively, the vegetation groups (plant communities) that characterize the urban habitats. A total of 189 permanent stands in the four cities were selected to represent the apparent variation in the different habitats. These stands were distributed as follows: 49 in 6th October, 37 in El-Sadat, 45 in Burg El-Arab, and 58 in 10th Ramadan. Altogether, 305 species of the vascular plants constituted the main synanthropic flora and the total number of species varied from 171 in Burg El-Arab, 157 in 10th Ramadan, 144 in Sadat and 132 to 6th October. The largest families that formed the main bulk of the recorded flora were Gramineae, Compositae, Leguminosae, followed by Euphorbiaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Cruciferae, Cyperaceae, Umbelliferae and Solanaceae. Five main urban habitats (from inner city toward outskirts) were distinguished: lawns, home gardens, public gardens, waste lands and desert outskirts. The most species-rich habitat was the waste lands (172 species), while the total number of species varied from 104 in the lawns and 113 home gardens, to 123 in the desert and 133 in the public gardens. Generally, the recorded synanthropic flora within the five main urban habitats can be classified into: (1) cultivated plant species that included ornamentals, hedges, shade plants, fodder plants, vegetables and fruits; (2) canal banks, salinized areas and wetland plants; (3) xerophytic plants of the outskirting desert; and (4) weeds of arable Urban Ecosyst (2011) 14:585-616
A recent floristic and environmental survey was undertaken on the roadside verges along the main highway between El Arish and Rafah (31°10'N, 33°48'E and 31°17'N, 34°15'E) that extend for about 45 km on the northeastern Mediterranean coast of Sinai (Egypt). 63 stands were studied at 700-m intervals to represent the variation of vegetation, and to compile the floristic composition of the study area. Four main landform zones were distinguished (from the seashore inwards) and run parallel to the roadway: (A) coastal plain, (B) saline depressions, (C) sand plains and (D) sand dunes. There is a gradual increase in the total number of recorded species in the recognized landform units. Application of TWINSPAN analysis yielded 18 vegetation groups (VG) that comprised 7 main vegetation types (VT). These vegetation types were (I) Artemisia monosperma in the sand dunes, (II) Artemisia monosperma-Echinops spinosus in the sand plains, coastal plain and sand dunes, (III) Cyperus capitatus-Ammophila arenaria in the sand dunes, (IV) Ammophila arenaria-Pancratium maritimum in the coastal plain, (V) Zygophyllum album, (VI) Arthrocnemum macrostachyum and (VII) Arthrocnemum macrostachyum-Zygophyllum album in the saline depressions. Ordination techniques of Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) were used to examine the relationship between the roadside vegetation and the 8 studied environmental variables: total soluble salts (TSS), pH, calcium carbonate (CaCO3), sand, fine fractions (silt and clay), distance from the seashore (DFS), landform units (LF) and altitude (Alt). Both ordination techniques indicated that soil salinity, calcareous sediments, soil texture, landform, altitude and distance from seashore were the most important factors for the distribution of the vegetation pattern along the road verges in the study area. These gradients were related closely to the first three CCA axes, and accounted for 72.4% of the species relationship among the stands. Low species richness in the vegetation types of the coastal plain and saline depressions may be related to their high soil salinity, while the high species diversity and the highest share of alien weeds of vegetation types characterized the sand dunes may be related to the high disturbance of their substrates as a result of agriculture practising, farming processes and other excessive human disturbances.
The relationship between vegetation and soil supporting the habitats in 4 new industrial cities were assessed. Five main habitats were distinguished from inner city toward outskirts: lawns, home gardens, public gardens, waste lands and desert outskirts. After application of Twinspan, 26 vegetation groups were identified in the 5 recognized habitats, demonstrating that some groups are chatracteristic of a certain city, e.g. Asphodelus aestivus - Deverra tortuosa - Thymelaea hirsuta group was confined to the desert habitat of Burg El-Arab city; Thymelaea hirsuta - Linaria albifrons and Atriplex halimus - Atriplex lindleyi subsp. inflata - Suaeda vermiculata - Typha domingensis groups were found in the waste lands of Burg El-Arab city; Conyza bonariensis - Cynodon dactylon - Sonchus oleraceus group in the home garden habitat of 10th Ranadan city; Cynodon dactylon group in the lawns of Burg El-Arab city; Bassia indica - Plantago major group in the public gardens of Burg El-Arab city; Oxalis corniculata - Plantago lagopus group in the public gardens of 10th Ramadan city; Sonchus oleraceus - Cynodon dactylon and Dactyloctenium aegyptium - Leptochloa fusca - Phragmites australis groups in the public gardens of 6th October city. Silt, clay, organic matter, carbonates and carbon contents showed significant diffrences among the 5 habitats.
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